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Rear Admiral Draper Laurence Kauffman (4 August 1911 – 18 August 1979) was an American underwater demolition expert, who served during the 1960s as 44th Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy. During World War II, he organized the first U.S. Navy Combat Demolition Units from which the SEALs and Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) would evolve. His wartime service also included participation in the invasions of Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa Island.
Kauffman graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1933, but poor eyesight denied him a commission in the regular navy.
Released in August, he made his way to England and was commissioned a sub-lieutenant in the British Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, later rising to lieutenant. At the height of the Blitz on London (1940–1941), he served as a bomb and mine disposal officer, and achieved a high degree of proficiency in bomb disposal techniques.
In January 1942, he was assigned the task of organizing a U.S. Naval Bomb Disposal School at the Washington Navy Yard. This school is one of the forefathers to the Explosive Ordnance Disposal School (NAVSCOLEOD) at the Kauffman Training Facility at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, which is managed by the Navy and staffed by all services to train the Department of Defense EOD technicians. As an additional duty he assisted the U.S. Army in setting up a comparable school at Aberdeen, Maryland.
In June 1943, he organized the first U.S. Navy Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs). They were incorporated into the Underwater Demolition Teams, forerunners of the SEALs. Lt. Commander Kauffman was the first commanding officer of the Naval Combat Demolition Unit, Naval Amphibious Training Base, Fort Pierce, Florida. While there, he also organized and was the first chairman of the Joint Army-Navy Experimental and Testing Board (JANET).
In April 1944, he was ordered to the Pacific Fleet and served at; the Naval Combat Demolition Training and Experimental Base, Maui, Hawaii; first as the commanding officer of Underwater Demolition Team 5 (UDT 5); then as senior staff officer, Underwater Demolition Teams, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet; and as Underwater Demolition Training Officer, Amphibious Training Command, Pacific Fleet.
As commander of UDT 5, he participated in the invasion of Saipan, and received a second Navy Cross for leading his team on a daylight reconnaissance of hostile beaches under heavy fire, and on 10 July 1944, leading a night reconnaissance of hostile beaches on Tinian island. At Iwo Jima and Okinawa Island he was the Commander Underwater Demolition Teams. Twice he had to transfer command from a damaged ship to another to carry on operations. At Iwo Jima in 1945, following a hit from an aerial attack on his vessel, he directed fire control efforts despite exploding munitions.
From October to December 1947, he was assigned to the carrier and was aboard her during her round-the-world cruise in 1948. Following a month's instruction at the Fleet Sonar School in Key West, Florida, he commanded the destroyer from December 1948 until July 1950, when he entered the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Upon completion of the logistics course in June 1951, he remained for two years as a member of the Strategy and Tactics Staff.
In June 1953, he assumed command of Destroyer Division 122. In 1954, Kauffman served in the Strategic Plans Division under the CNO, and in 1955 was appointed Aide to the Under Secretary of the Navy and later Secretary of the Navy, Thomas S. Gates, Jr.
In August 1957, he assumed command of the attack transport which he commanded until August 1958 when he was ordered to duty as Assistant Chief of Staff for Plans on the staff of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. In January 1960, he commanded the heavy cruiser .
In July 1960, Kauffman was selected as Rear Admiral, and he became Commander Destroyer Flotilla Three (later redesignated Cruiser Destroyer Flotilla Three). In 1962, he became Chief of the Strategic Plans and Policy Division.
In 1965, he became the 44th Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he served for three years. His next assignment was as the Commander of the U.S. Naval Forces in the Philippines, and Representative of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, a billet once filled 25 years earlier by his father.
In June 1970, he became commandant of the 9th Naval District, headquartered at Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, with an additional duty as Commander of the Station.
Rear Admiral Kauffman retired from the Navy on 1 June 1973 and became the 9th president of Marion Military Institute from 1974 to 1976. He died on 18 August 1979, Budapest, Hungary, while on a tour with members of a Naval Academy alumni group.
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Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, founder of SumOfUs, is a granddaughter.
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